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“Let's remember that the Hamas terrorist organization has been inciting violence for years, long before the United States decided to move our embassy,” Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

Nikki Haley blames Hamas for violence in Gaza

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was not to blame for deadly violence that erupted along the Gaza border, casting blame instead on Hamas and its backers in the Iranian government.

Addressing the U.N. Security Council, Haley said Hamas, the group that controls Gaza and is labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S., was behind the clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces that left at least 60 people dead. She bemoaned the “double standard” that she said exists at the U.N. under which Israel shoulders the blame for violence she said was spurred by Hamas and Iran.

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“Let's remember that the Hamas terrorist organization has been inciting violence for years, long before the United States decided to move our embassy,” Haley said. “This is what is endangering the people of Gaza. Make no mistake, Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday.”

The violence on Monday made for a jarring split screen in the region, with the pomp and circumstance of the embassy opening in Jerusalem carrying on even as Israeli forces used deadly force to stop protesters from crossing a border fence from Gaza. Protesters hurled projectiles at Israeli forces and lit tires on fire, generating thick black smoke.

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On Tuesday, Haley highlighted the tactics used by some Palestinian protesters, including the use of Molotov cocktails attached to kites, and accused Hamas of urging protesters to get closer to the fence via recordings on loudspeakers, incorrectly telling them that Israeli forces were withdrawing.

Those Security Council nations castigating Israel should consider, Haley said, whether they would tolerate the type of violence seen in Gaza along their own borders.

“No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has. In fact, the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained,” she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with CBS News, accused Hamas of seeking to "incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel" and said of Israeli forces' actions, "I don't know of any army that would do anything differently if you had to protect your border against people who say 'we're going to destroy you.'"

Haley was among the first representatives to speak at Tuesday morning's meeting and left the room when the Palestinian envoy began to speak.

Gaza was mostly quiet on Tuesday, with no calls from Hamas for major protests at the border fence. Offices of the Palestinian Authority, as well as many private businesses in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, were closed on Tuesday as part of a general strike called by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Gazans were encouraged by leaders there to attend funerals for those killed in Monday's violence.

Speaking to reporters Monday night, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said his organization's military wing's "patience is not endless," calling Jerusalem's status a "red line." The U.S. move of its embassy to Jerusalem, the Hamas leader said, is an "assault on our people's rights," a point Haley disputed Tuesday at the UN.

"Moving our embassy to Jerusalem also reflects the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," she said. "There is no plausible peace agreement under which Jerusalem would no longer remain the capital of Israel. Recognizing this reality makes peace more achievable, not less."